ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2015

place after the event but that it raises an obvious question about the status of the corresponding fixture in 2013/14, which was announced and played as first-class and has been treated as such by everyone with an interest in these matters. Sadly, urgent requests to SLC to clarify the position, as regards both the 2013/14 and 2014/15 play-offs, have, at the time of writing, met with no response. In these frankly galling circumstances, the decision has been taken to err on the side of inclusion, and accordingly the 2014/15 play-off appears on page 540 of this Annual. However, readers should be aware of the doubtful status of this match. Apart from the uncertainty about the status of the play-off fixture, the Premier Championship proceeded on the same footing as in 2013/14. It featured fourteen clubs initially placed in two groups. The top four in each group then contested a Super Eight competition, carrying forward the points already won in the three-day games against the top three sides from their own group, and playing over four days against each of the top four from the other group. Defending champions Nondescripts, with 50.515 points carried forward, thus enjoyed a big advantage at the start of the Super Eights. But they achieved only one further win and finished the season with two heavy defeats one of which came, crucially, at the hands of their closest rivals, Ports Authority, who thus seized the title. Meanwhile the bottom three clubs from the initial groups played their own Plate competition, won by Ragama. Air Force, meanwhile, after enduring a wretched season, came firmly bottom of the Plate and, as already noted, went on to lose the play-off to Galle. Sri Lanka staged no home tests in 2014/15, but the first-class season was not entirely without international cricket because a West Indies A team, containing several Test players, played three matches against Sri Lanka A in October. The hosts won the rubber 1-0. (Sri Lanka did, however, play home rubbers against Pakistan and India in the subsequent ‘off’ season – see the ‘Matches in 2015’ section.) Turning to individual performances, mention must be made of Jehan Mubarak of Nondescripts, who repeated his 2013/14 feat of exceeding a thousand first-class runs in the season. In all matches, he struck 1112 runs at 58.52, and he also exceeded 1000 runs in the Premier Championship alone (1043 at 65.18). This sustained form earned him a Test recall, but with disappointing results. In 2013/14, Mubarak had been alone in reaching a four-figure aggregate, but in 2014/15 he was joined by Milinda Siriwardene of Badureliya, who headed the list with 1144 runs at 67.29, all in the Premier Championship. The Premier Champions, Ports Authority, claimed the most successful bowler in the tournament, the off-spinner Malinda Pushpakumara with 70 wickets at 16.72. All his first-class appearances were in the Premier Championship; in all first-class matches, the most successful bowler was Nondescripts’ off-spinner, Tharindu Kaushal, who turned 22 during the Premier season. He took 75 at 17.90 (60 at 17.78 in Premier matches alone) and forced his way into the Test side. (JCB) 468 Sri Lanka in 2014/15